This blog has nothing to do with gorillas (though I love 'em)...fellow bloggers have inspired me to share vintage images of Disneyland from my personal collection. But don't be surprised if you see something from a World's Fair, Knott's Berry Farm, or someplace else that is cool!

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Welcome back to 1996! We were rocking out to Hootie and the Blowfish, the Macarena, and Alanis Morissette. Hits in the theater that year: Independence Day, Happy Gilmore, Fargo, and Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Now you know.

Here's the good old Penny Arcade, complete with a genuine "Indian Head" penny above the entrance (remember when pennies weighed 20 pounds?). This picture is from November, and it must have been a bit chilly based on the clothing; of course there is always somebody in shorts at Disneyland. Notice the kid at the Esmerelda's fortune telling machine out front . At this point it looks like the arcade was still full of vintage coin-operated machines that I remember so fondly.

This next photo is from July, and Mr. X tried to take a good portrait of the Candy Palace (right next door to the arcade), only to have the fire truck ruin the picture. There's Roger Rabbit in the window, wondering if he will ever star in a sequel.

Over on East Center Street you will still find the Hotel Marceline. In this December photo, Christmas decorations are evident; the entrance to the lockers is just to our right, and you can just see the brick wall that is half "nice and neat" and half "wavy", supposedly to help Walt (or somebody) to decide which would look best on Main Street. Frankly the wavy bricks look kind of terrible, so the right decision was made. Hooray!

1996 was a great year for our family at Disneyland. We went in late June and stayed at the Travelodge Maingate during it's last year of existence. Our room was approximately where the Tower of Terror is today.

Anyway, my kids were 13, 11, 10, 5 & 3 and we all had a blast! Good times, glad I took a lot of pictures.

Sure wish the Penny Arcade still had the vintage arcade games! And I remember a time in the mid 70's when they had a few of the 'modern' video games, such as Boot Hill, which was Western themed (maybe that was the only reason they allowed it in there come to think of it?)